Chris just wrote a piece on why he likes movements. A good discussion ensued as to why some people support the Obama 'movement' and others (such as myself) support the Edwards 'movement'. And it led me to thinking.....

Today, John Edwards released his plan to provide universal health care to all Americans. If you're too busy to read the 7 page summary you can check below for my summary and comments.

The full plan is available here.

As of this point in time, I have one simple question for the 2008 presidential candidates to answer,

"How will your presidency further a movement to create a better life and a better world for all people?"

And as of this point in time, only one of the three major candidates has answered this question in a clear and concise way. The other two candidates are strikingly similar....

A few weeks ago during John Edwards's announcement blitz there was a great discussion of John Edwards on this blog. There was much talk about Edwards's sincerity, progressivity, and ability to win the nomination and presidency. One of the delights of the discussion was the fact that Howard Dean's former campaign manager, Joe Trippi, often joined in the discussion to share his thoughts about the campaign and the Democratic field in general.

You might remember the big Brouhaha a couple of days ago over whether the GOP was pulling out of Ohio and leaving Mike DeWine to fend for himself against Sherrod Brown. Well Ken Melhman, in a hastily arranged press conference, vigorously denied that and said they were still spending millions on the race (well, at least 1 million). Their proof was given to the ultra-insider hotline blog the next day. Let's see what happened.

You've probably seen the news from the Quinnipiac Poll today: Sherrod Brown up 53% to 41% over Mike DeWine. This comes on the heels of a Survey USA poll showing Brown up 54% to 40%. How did Brown do it? The CW is that the atmosphere is so toxic to republicans in Ohio, that DeWine is getting swept out with the tide. Certainly that covers part of the story, but let's parse the Quinnipiac poll to see a more subtle, yet fundamental reason why Brown looks poised to win, and win big in 2006.

Just received a campaign email with some good fundraising news from the Brown campaign.

Short version: The campaign hit its goal of raising 75k online by midnight Saturday. That brought the total amount of money raised online in just the third quarter to $530,000.

This is really great news considering Sherrod is basically fighting 3 to 4 opponents: DeWine, the NRSC, the RNC, and outside groups. This guy is a fighter. And it shows how a proud progressive message can win votes in red states. I'm pumped. Let's take these guys out.

Full text of the email on the flip.

Fellow political hacks,

I'm putting together some material for a lit drop and canvass in my home precinct. My mom is the democratic precinct chair and she's planning on going out and talking to people this weekend. This is a very republican district and we're basically starting from scratch in talking to people and building up our party. We're working especially hard for our local congressional candidate, David Gill. Anyway, I'm writing up a script/literature sheet for volunteers to use and hand to people in describing why they should get out and vote against Tim Johnson. This piece is directed towards Dems but especially independents since they make up the largest share of registered voters in the precinct. So I need your suggestions on how to improve what I've written so far.

Content is on the flip.